Wire drawing mechanism



p 2, 1952 E. J. MCILVRIED 2,609,088

WIRE DRAWING MECHANISM Filed June 26, 1948 INVENTOR.

R 3| a} 3 I 50 W/A/ J MC ll. 1 2/50 Fig.4 3119.5 6119. 6 A TTOZA/C V6 Patented Sept. 2, 1952 WIRE DRAWING MECHANISIH Edwin J. Mcllvried, Stow, Ohio, assignor to The Vaughn Machinery Company, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application June 2c, 1948, Serial No. 35,323

1 Claim. 1

The present improvements relating generally as indicated to wire drawing mechanism, have more particular regard to a unique capstan construction and anti-vibration device associated therewith.

In the drawing of wire and like elongated material the usual practice involves threading a strand of material through a die and drawing the same therethrough by means of a powerrotated capstan or drum disposed tangentially of said die and around which capstan the strand is wrapped one or more times to create a desired friction and thus to impose apredetermined tension on the material during the drawing operation. From said capstan the material is generally either spooled or coiled to form a bundle. In continuous drawing operations the material is drawn through a series of dies of progressively reducing size by capstans located between successive dies and rotated progressively faster to compensate for the elongation of the material during such drawing. v

One of the difficulties encountered with conventional capstans is that the number of wraps of the material thereabout when varied in one turn increments frequently creates a situation wherein a certain number of turns produces an insufiicient friction and excessive'slippage of the material on the capstan whereby no drawing is effected, while an additional turn produces an excessive friction which imposes undue strains on the material resulting in frequent rupturing of the material and consequently frequent shutdown of the machine.

Another serious problem is that of the production of material with chatter marks thereon which are believed, at least in part, due to vibration of the material during the drawing operation as occasioned by insufiicient or nonuniform distribution of lubricant supplied to the wire and die orifice and/or inaccuracies in the relative positions of the die orifice and capstan.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to provide a capstan construction of such form that the number of wraps of the material thereabout may be varied in small part-turn increments to avoid the aforesaid difiiculties.

Another object is to provide an anti-vibration device which in association with said capstan is operative to eliminate chatter marks on the material. 1

Another object is to provide a delicate antivibration device which may be adjusted to apply a uniform and desired pressure laterally of the path of movement of the material for thus elim- 2 inating vibration of the material when through the die.

Another object is to provide an improved form of combination die holder and lubricator which is automatioally'retained in a die releasing and lubricant passage closing position in response to movement thereof away from the die.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as the following description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description and the annexed drawing setting forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principleofthe invention may be employed.

In said annexed drawing:

Fig.1 isa front elevation view, partly in sec tion, of the upper portion of a continuous wire drawing machine embodying the present improvements;

Figs. 2 and 3 are side and front elevation views respectively of a preferred form of anti-vibration device; and

Figs. 4-8 are schematic drawings illustrating a few of the various ways in which the drawn material may be wrapped around the unique capstan construction.

Referring now to the drawing and first more especially to Fig. 1 thereof, the numeral I denotes the base portion of a continuous wire drawing machine with the lasttwo power-rotated drawn capstans 2 and 3 thereon around each of which capstans wire or like material W is adapted to be wrapped and drawn thereby through the associated dies 4 and 5 disposed tangentially between successive capstans. In the particular machine illustrated, the capstan 2 constitutes the last of a plurality of circularly arranged capstans as disclosed in co-pending application of Edwin J. McIlvried et al., Serial No. 2,497, filed January 15, 1948., it being understood that insofar as the present invention is concerned, said capstans may be otherwise arranged. Furthermore,,in single draft wire draw benches the capstan 2 and die 4, of course; will not be required.

The dies 4 and 5 are yieldably retained in a seated position by means of spring pressed arms 5 and 1 each provided with a lubricant supply passage therethrough for squirting lubricant onto the wire W andinto the associated die orifice. Said arms 6 and I are oscillatorily 'mounted in base! for movement toward and away from the associated die, and the inner ends thereof communicate with a pressurized lubricant supply chamber. When said arms 6 and I are moved away from the associated die, the latter may be readily removed and at the same time the lubricant supply passage is cleared and closed by the inner end of the rod 3 or 9 projecting through the aforesaid lubricant passage, said rods being fixed against movement by engagement of their outer ends with the stops I and II respectively which are fixed relative to base I.

The arm 'I has a laterally projecting leg I2 thereon to which is pivotally connected at I3 a link I4 which has its free end loosely projecting through an opening in a bracket I5 on said base, a spring I6 being interposed between said bracket and a collar IT on said link. As is apparent, the swinging of arm I in a counter-clockwise direction from its position in Fig. 1 out of engagement with die 5 will cause the pivot I3 to shift to the opposite side of a straight line between the end of link I4 and the pivot of arm I whereby the spring I6 will retain said arm in such die unseating position so that bothhands of the operator are free to manipulate said die. As previously mentioned, the movement of said arm-l to a die releasing position effects projection of the rod 9 through the lubricant supply passage to close and at the same time clear such passage.

In the case of die 5, the seat therefor is formed as a part of a lever I8 which through adjustment of the thumb screws I9 and 20 bearing against base I can be desirably adjusted so that the die orifice may be accurately aligned between capstans 2 and 3.

However, even with die 5 adjusted as aforesaid it has been observed that the wire W in being drawn therethrough will have chatter marks thereon apparently caused by vibration induced in the wire by even the slightest inaccuracy in the location of the die orifice relative to the aforesaid capstans 2 and 3 or else the tendency of the stretch of Wire between the die 5 and capstan 3 to bow or bulge toward the left as viewed in Fig. 1. When copper wire is drawn from the final capstan 3 at the rate of about 5,000 feet per minute the chatter marks are about apart thus indicating a vibration frequency of or 667 cycles per second.

I have discovered that by applying a very light spring pressure laterally against the wire toward the right as viewed in Fig; 1 and at a point intermediate the die 5 and. capstan 3 completely eliminates such chatter marks. As best illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, such pressure is applied through an anti-vibration device comprising a finger 2| pivoted between its ends on a stud 22 threaded in base I and having its wire-engaging end in the form of a convexly curved and smoothly polished shoe 23 made from tungsten carbide or like hard and wear-resisting material. Said finger is yieldably urged in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 2 by means of a coil spring 24 which has its one end closely fitting over a radially disposed stud 25 on a bushing 26 rotatably adjustable on stud 22 and its other end similarly fitted over a stud 21 extending radially inward from the opposite end of said finger. By rotating said bushing 26 and locking the same on stud 22 as by means of set screw 28, any desired pressure between shoe 23 and the wire W may be effectuated. The pressure is applied through spring 24 by its natural tendency to assume a straight axial form rather than the S form to which it is deformed by rotatably adjusting the bushing 26 as aforesaid.

The wire W, as previously indicated, is wrapped one or more times around capstan 3 and drawn thereby through die 5 and past the anti-vibration device just described. From the capstan 3 the wire passes over a sheave 29 to a reeling or spooling mechanism (not shown).

It has been found that with prior machines a change in one-turn increments in the number of wraps of the wire around the capstan is too great to effectuate a desired tensioning of the wire W. For example, two turns may permit excessive slippage between the wire and the capstan while three turns produces an excessive friction whereby to overtension the wire.

To enable a variation of the number of wraps of the wire on the capstan 3 in small part-turn increments there is mounted radially outward of capstan 3 a pair of circumferentially spaced idler sheaves 30 and 3| over which the wire W is adapted to pass. In Fig. 1 the wire W is first wrapped one full turn around capstan 3, then over sheave 30, around capstan 3 a part turn, and thence over sheave 3| and back to capstan 3. In the arrangement shown in Fig. 1 the sheaves 30 and 3I- are of such size and so spaced relative to capstan 3 that the stretches of wire 32 and 33 are at an angle of 15 relative to a line between the axes of said capstan 3 and sheaves 30 and 3| and the stretch of wire 34 is at an angle of about 45 to the vertical stretch of wire from die 5 whereby the wire W contacts the capstan 3 for about (375+360n) where n is the number of wraps around capstan 3. Thus where n equals 0, 1 and 2, the wrap of the wire W on capstan 3 is 375, 735, and 995 respectively. By omitting the stretches of wire 32 and 33 the wrap becomes (315+360n). By omitting stretches 32 or 33 the wrap is changed to- (+360n). Likewise, by omitting those stretches 32 and 33 which cross over one another in Fig. 1, the wrap is changed to (75+360n). Still other ways of wrapping the wire W about capstan 3 and sheaves 30 and 3| are schematically illustrated in Figs. 4-8 from which-it is apparent that in conjunction with the several previously indicated methods of wrapping it is possible to vary the wrap of the wire on capstan 3 in extremely small part-turn increments to thus provide the proper tension and speed of drawing of the wire and with a minimum slippage of the wire on the capstan.

From the foregoing it can now be seen that with the present improvements incorporated in a wire drawing machine an extremely efficient machine results, the wire being completely free from chatter marks and being drawn with minimum slippage whereby a minimum of power is wasted and the injury to the wire surface or wearing of the coating thereon is reduced to a minimum. At the same time, the unique capstan construction enables an accurate control of the drawing operation to thus preclude an application of undue strains on the wire thereby avoiding frequent shut-downs as occasioned by rupturing of the wire.-

Other modes of applying the principle of the invention may be employed, change being made as regards the details described, provided the features "stated in the following claim, or the equivalent of such, be employed.

I therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

An anti-vibration device for resiliently contacting a vertically travelling stretch of wire between a die and a wire drawing capstan to eliminate marks on the wire caused by vibration thereof when drawn through the die, comprising a substantially horizontal pivot, a generally vertically disposed finger oscillatorily mounted on said pivot and having an end portion laterally contacting such stretch of wire, a coil spring bearing on said finger to rotate the latter about said pivot to a position with such end portion resiliently contacting such stretch of wire, a projection on said finger in telescoped relation with one end of said spring, and a bushing rotatably adjustable on said pivot with respect to said finger and provided with a radial projection in telescoped relation with the other end of said spring for laterally deforming the end portions of said spring with respect to each other from the unstressed condition of said spring whereby the tendency of said spring to assume its unstressed condition exerts resilient pressure on said finger to rotate the latter as aforesaid.

EDWIN J. MCILVRIED.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 357,581 Cooley Feb. 15, 1887 515,160 Palmer Feb. 20, 1894 1,697,863 Green Jan. 8, 1929 1,935,726 Pierson Nov 21, 1933 1,938,190 McIlvried Dec. 5, 1933 1,967,834 McIlvried July 24, 1934 2,043,717 Stickley Jan. 9, 1936 2,521,879 Stella Sept. 12, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 444,694 Great Britain Mar. 25, 1936 

